September, 2018

• 19 September

  Malaysia to lay more charges against Najib in ‘1MDB case’

  Bloomberg Malaysia’s former premier Najib Razak will face new charges in a case linked to troubled state fund 1MDB, following earlier allegations of money laundering and corruption. The expected allegations against Najib are part of a case linked to 2.6 billion ringgit of funds transferred to his personal account, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said in a statement, after detaining him ...

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• 19 September

  UK, EU aim to break Brexit deadlock

  

  Bloomberg The UK and the European Union signalled their readiness to work to break the deadlock in Brexit talks as Prime Minister Theresa May prepared for a crucial summit aiming to persuade EU leaders to back her plans. The bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, repeated his offer to re-write his blueprint for avoiding a hard border between the UK ...

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• 19 September

  Ceasefire ignored as South Sudan army rampaged: Amnesty

  Bloomberg Pro-government forces in South Sudan went on a weeks-long rampage of “staggering brutality” in opposition-controlled areas and killing civilians and destroying their food supplies even after warring sides agreed a cease-fire, Amnesty International said. Soldiers and allied militias were given “free rein” to commit atrocities in the country’s north between mid-April and early July, the London-based group said on ...

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• 19 September

  Bannon seeks European upset with appeal to populist forces

  

  Bloomberg Steve Bannon helped upend the political order in the US before falling out with President Donald Trump. Now he’s looking to recreate his former glories in Europe. Bannon is planning a roadshow across half a dozen European countries this week to organise a loose alliance of populist leaders and parties in a bid to gain a bigger foothold for ...

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• 19 September

  Losing faith in the future?

  

  It has long been an accepted axiom in the United States — and also in many advanced democracies — that the future would be better than the past. People took it for granted that living standards would rise and that life would be more comfortable and stable. Well, kiss that optimism goodbye. A new survey of 27 countries finds that ...

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• 19 September

  Three more reasons to worry about Italy

  

  It feels good again to be an investor in Italian government debt. Since the start of September, the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond has fallen from 3.24 percent to 2.79 percent, and the spread with German bunds has narrowed sharply. Bondholders seem confident that Italy’s finance minister Giovanni Tria will get his way in passing a prudent budget, despite ...

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• 19 September

  Here’s one likely cause of the next financial crisis

  

  Now that everything has been said about the 10th anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, it’s worth asking how close we are to the next crisis. In the market for corporate loans, investors have fulfilled at least one prerequisite: They’re dropping their guard. The financial cycle has a lot to do with inattention. When something bad happens, people are careful ...

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• 19 September

  Global trade is thriving for emerging markets

  The West has turned hostile to open markets, but trade isn’t in retreat everywhere. In other parts of the world, it’s flourishing. The fashionable label “deglobalisation” misses the shift in import and export patterns that has seen emerging markets account for an increasing share of global trade in goods. Not the least of these is China’s expanding role as customer, ...

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• 19 September

  AI threatens to devastate jobs in developing world

  

  Most studies of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on jobs and the economy have focused on developed countries such as the US and Britain. But through my work as a scientist, technology executive and venture capitalist in the US and China, I’ve come to believe that the gravest threat AI poses is to emerging economies. In recent decades, China ...

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• 19 September

  China Inc. is hurting for a corporate tax cut

  

  An escalating trade war, rising oil prices and a bear market in stocks — China Inc. is struggling. A multibillion-yuan windfall from corporate tax cuts might be the only way to revive animal spirits. Yet Beijing is walking the other way, preparing to break the camel’s back. Starting in January, China’s tax offices will collect companies’ social-security contributions as part ...

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